Hola!  Hey mom!  How was meeting with all of your friends?  I was thinking the same thing about my mission, that I would be able to come back here and meet with all of the families, but then I thought again.  I dont think I would come back here if I wasnt a missionary.  It is a little too sketchy for that.  But I am loving it.  This week was really hard because I was thinking about you guys a lot.  I noticed that the time went by a lot slower, and the week was a lot harder.  I loved those pictures you sent!  I love that one with lavell edwards grand daughter!  I also love that picture with all of your friends from japan!  Sounds like you are loving japan!  But I always knew you would.  I really miss you mom.  I love you too!  Keep on writing me!  Getting your emails always is the highlight of my week.  I love you mom!  

HOLA!!!!!  ¿Como estan?  

It is getting so hard to write things!  The time goes by so fast, and I never can remember very much.  But this week was a little bit slower than the other weeks.  We have had to give some of our families to the Hermanas......   I am ticked.  Those were our families.  Dang Hermanas.  Oh well, they are pretty awesome.  They work really hard and have a lot of sucess.  

This next week is going to be really interesting.  Tomorrow we have a devotional with all of the Missions from Santiago with ELDER HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!!   So stoked!  Wednsday all of the chile soccer teams play, which means that we will not get a chance to teach.  On thursday we have divisions with a different zone.  And friday my comp and I go into Santiago Central to get my visa...  Weird.  I have been here for 3 1/2 months...  I thought about that the other day....  It is so weird how fast everything goes.  This week has so much fun stuff!!!!  

We have been teaching Ana Maria, Claudia, and Camila so much!  They are the family that we found contacting!  They are so awesome!  Every time we show up at their house, they have their Books of Mormon ready with their scripture markers!  I love it.  They are such a sweet family.  The other night Ana Maria made dinner for us.  It was pretty awesome.  

I had an interview with president on tuesday!  He said that me and my comp are doing good things in our sector, and that we need to keep it up.  He also said that our mission is having so much sucess with all of the less active members.  When our mission first opened up 4 months ago, we had a activity percentage of 5% now we are at 20%!  So sweet!!!!  Our mission is one of the few missions, where they count reactivations the same as baptisms.  Oh we also found out that for christmas we have an all day activity with all of the mission.  We are going to play sports in the morning, a big lunch, and watch a a disney movie!!!!!  So stoked!  I cant wait.  

The familia Oses are doing ok.  We havent had a lesson with Hermano Oses in 2 weeks...  But we got the chance to talk with his wife and his daughter!  They are doing really good, and want to come to church.  They are so awesome!  They have progressed so much!  We have another appointment with them soon!  Keep them in your prayers please!  They need it!  

All in all, this week has been pretty good.  I love you guys and love hearing from you.  I hope you guys are all doing good!  And hope that you guys are loving life.  

Chow

Elder Whiting

This week has been really good, but really slow.  I dont know why it was so long.  But it was.  But it still was a really good week.  Probably because I was thinking about home a lot this week.  I have realized the weeks go by so much faster when I dont think about home.....  Which is weird.  But oh well.  We had changes two weeks ago.  I am still with my companion, Elder Gonzalez, but the next change he is probably gonna go.  He will have been here in Quimey for 8 months....  I think he is getting ready to leave.  He has been here for a while.  But he still is pushing hard.  He is a great example to me.  He has been such a good trainer.  It has been difficult sometimes, but things keep on pushing on. 

This week we have had 6 new investigators, and have taught a bunch of lessons too.  We are teaching the most awesome family!  They have never heard of the mormons before, and are being really receptive to our lessons.  I love teaching them.  Ana Maria is the grandma, Claudia is her daugter, and Camila is the daughter of claudia.  Ana maria has a husband too, but he is deaf and cannot understand very much, so he sits in the other room.  It is so awesome!  They are so cool!  I am teaching Camila English right now too.  I think that Claudia and Ana Maria want me to date Camila....  Weird....   They dont really understand the whole missionary thing.  

The Familia Oses....  I think that I have never been so sad before.  Hermano Oses started drinking again with his friends.  We havent taught them once this week.  I am so frustrated with his friends, because they are such a bad influence for him.  Ughh I get so irritated with some people here....   Please remember them in your prayers, especially Hermano Oses.  

So funny story.  So me and my companion were walking home one night, and we got home with 15 minutes to spare, so we decided to do some contacts.  We walked down the road a little ways, and decided to start with this one house.  So we yelled for this lady, and she walked out, and said "Hola."  We replied, and started talking to her about her garden.  We then asked her "Can we come in and teach you?"  She said "yeah sure, but you have to answer a question correctly first."  Me and my comp looked at each other and said "Ok."  This question has got to be one of the most weird and random questions.  She said "Who are the Grandparents of Jesus Christ?"  We both said "We have no idea."  She said "Sorry you guys cant come in then."  So we asked her, "Who are they?"  She said "Ana and Joaquin."  It took all of my might not to laugh.  I started to walk away, because I started to laugh.  My comp just said "Ok chow."  We got a little ways away, and busted out laughing!  I told him that we need to tell the other missionaries in our house, so that they can go to her house and answer her question.  I thought that would be really funny!  

So me and my comp dont have a key to our house, so I found a new way to get in to our house.  I fold up a pass along card, and slide it up by the door handle and break into our house.  We have had to do it every night now for a couple of weeks.  Oh and we have a cat and dog....  Our next door neighbor has a cat, and he never is over there, he is always in our yard.  His name is Rafiki.  His is the most awesome cat in the world, because he eats the rats...  The dog is also from one of our neighbors.  His name is alberto..  He is a champ.  So I guess we have 2 pets.  They are the coolest cats on the block.  

Thanks for everything!  I love all you guys.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  But please keep them up, I need all the help I can get.  I miss you guys!

Chow

Elder Whiting